Monday, February 22, 2010

I was inspired by a wonderful face and body painter from Australia, called Ambah. She does fantastic jewelry. So, I started working on it. This lead me to do dragon necklaces, and dragonfly pendants. I am still working on my skills, but I thought you might like to hear how I am doing it.

This was the first time I tried this design, and using all of the products the way I did. (So I am extra flattered some of you liked it!) Probably will change it up a bit for next time. Each time I try one, I get just a little bit better. So, stay tuned!

Of course, I could have zipped it out in 5 minutes or less if I just glued on the jewels, and customers would have probably be happier. But, that would not have helped me increase my skills as a painter.
This is how I made THIS one work ...

That neat silver color is Kryolan's AquaColor metallic silver, that is the best silver, even if it is a bit flakey. The other great silver is the Mehron metallic you mix with a mixing liquid. FYI, once the Mehron is mixed with the mixing liquid, it is easier to apply, and really pretty. However, it is a pain to mix at a gig and I get powder all over myself and my kit. When I need a good gold, I do use the Mehron with the mixing liquid, as I have not found a good gold yet. But when I need a good silver for necklaces, I use the AquaColor.

I create the basic outline of the necklace, with a tiny detail brush and white paint. Then I fill in the outline.

The pink jewels on the dragonfly are created with Interferenze Strauss Wine.

The shadows inside the jewels are with Diamond FX metallic red, a watered down Diamond FX metallic black, and the highlights are with Diamond FX's metallic white.

I highlight all of my necklaces with the Diamond FX metallic white.

When it is filled in as I like it, I outline it with a product I made myself. You can proably see it in the "chain." In a small bowl I mixed one teaspoon of the metallic silver that comes in a 'tube' from Mehron, some silver metallic loose powder from Ben Nye, some generic shimmer powder and a teaspoon of hair gel. I mixed them together, and spoon it into the corner of a plastic bag. I snip the corner of the bag, and sqeezed it into an ALMOST empty silver Liquid Bling bottle. It could be all the way empty bottle, but the one I had to use just wasn't :)) This drys ALMOST flat, but with a tiny bit of 3-D feel. You can make these "gilding pastes" as we called them in henna work, in just about any color.

Next, I add shadows, using Mehron's black Starblends and a brush I keep just for that purpose. For the ruby Victorian, I do much the same thing.

Finally, I use a few very small dots here and there of silver Liquid Bling on the "metal" part of the dragonfly, and the clear Liquid Bling on the pink jewels, to give it more highlights.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Tigers, leopards and cats of all kinds are my favorite things to paint! I just saw an article about '1,000 faces for 1,000 tigers.' It was a campaign held at Fo Guang Shan Dong Zen temple in Jenjarom, near Kuala Lumpur. Feb. 20, 2010, marked the launch of a conservation campaign by the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) to double the number of wild tigers in Malaysia by 2022 (the next year of the tiger).

About Me

I am an artist, agent and author of over 20 books, and/or ebooks,by such pretigios publishers as McGraw-Hill and Penguin. I am most well known for my 20 years running Walters International Speakers Bureau. Today I book famous baseball player and motivational speaker Jim Abbott. I am also considered to be the leading expert on One Hand Typing. My hobby - face painting - has exploded in the past few years into amazing fun! I now have 3 books on face painting which are sold by many major face painting suppliers. I am even asked to present at face painting conventions.